North Dakota approves new crude conditioning rules

The North Dakota Industrial Commission on Tuesday approved an order that will require every barrel of crude produced in the state to be filtered for volatile natural gas liquids. The goal of the directive is to achieve a vapor pressure of no more than 13.7 psi for each barrel of crude — 1 psi below the national standard. Via Platts, oil and gas operators such as Hess Corp., Marathon Oil and Continental Resources opposed the order, claiming its implementation would cost them millions of dollars.

North Dakota officials were driven to act by the recent spate of crude carrying train derailments, many of which resulted in explosions and fires. Several studies suggested Bakken crude is more volatile than other types of oil produced in the U.S.